The invention relates to an enamel touch-up kit for paint repair, especially on automobiles, consisting of an enamel or paint container with a screw cap, the base of a touch-up brush extending into the container being attached to this screw cap. An additional rust-removing tool accommodated in a hollow space of the screw cap is provided which, after removal of a lid covering the hollow space, is accessible and usable.
It is known (French Pat. No. 1,219,912) to combine the screw caps of enamel touch-up kits with additional tools, for example in the form of spatulas, which are accommodated in a cylindrical cavity within the screw cap. These tools are firmly joined to a lid and thus can be utilized after removal of the lid. The cavity within the screw cap, which latter due to its elongated configuration also serves as a grip for handling the touch-up brush, also houses still other auxiliary means, such as, for example, a filling compound. One disadvantage resides in that auxiliary tools arranged in this way can be manipulated only with great difficulties on account of the relatively small lid.
Similar designs of enamel touch-up kits are known wherein in the same way a rust-removing brush is combined with the lid in place of a spatula (German Pat. No. 2,630,351). In this arrangement, the additional provision is made to retain the lid via laterally projecting tangs in slots along the rim of the cavity of the screw cap. The rust-removing brush can be withdrawn in this way and optionally can also be inserted in a reversed fashion in the end of the screw cap, so that the enamel touch-up stick itself can serve as the handle. However, these types of design have the drawback that the rust-removing tool, held in this way relatively loosely in slots, is not seated firmly enough on the screw cap and also can drop out of the mounting during its use. If the rust-removing brush is handled in the way it is manipulated also in the previously discussed type of arrangement, then the drawback arises that the end of the brush can be seized only by the relatively small lid part.
Therefore, the present invention is based on the object of constructing an enamel touch-up kit of the type described above in such a way that a controlled rust removal can be performed in a simple and thorough fashion prior to painting without impairing the touch-up enameling operation and the handling of the touch-up brush necessary for this purpose.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the rust-removing tool is mounted, with its base in opposition to the base of the touch-up brush, to the screw cap and projects in the opposite direction therefrom away from the screw cap; and the lid is fashioned as a protective cap forming the hollow space, this protective cap being seated on the screw cap and encompassing the rust-removing tool on all sides. This arrangement has the great advantage that the external shape of the screw cap and its configuration as a handle for manipulating the touch-up brush can be retained, but that merely the protective cap needs to be taken off for the rust-removing operation, so that then the entire enamel touch-up stick (container) serves as a handle for operating the rust-removing tool which tool is fixedly joined to this handle. Consequently, an effortless and controlled working with the rust-removal tool is made possible.
It is advantageous according to especially preferred embodiments to place the protective cap with its open rim onto a collar of the screw cap surrounding the base of the rust-removing tool, so that the protective cap can be readily pulled off to make the rust-removing tool accessible. To obtain the objective at the same time of being able to unscrew the screw cap from the container before beginning an enamel touch-up repair, it is advantageous to provide the protective cap and the collar with a polygon-type circumferential surface which takes care, on the one hand, of seating the protective cap secure from rotation on the actual screw portion of the screw cap, but, on the other hand, also forms a profiled outer surface suitable for the screw attachment, which surface can be readily seized.
It is advantageous according to especially preferred embodiments to provide that the rust-removing tool consists of a knife blade attached to a peg-like extention of the screw cap because in this way--as contrasted to the use of a rust-removal wire brush--a very much more controlled, localized rust removal is made possible, avoiding contact with the parts of the car body adjacent to the rust spot but not as yet attacked by rust. It is also advantageous to fashion the extension to be conical with the larger diameter on the side of the screw cap and to provide the knife blade with an inclined edge in the manner of an eraser blade. This arrangement makes it possible to apply the tool in a spotwise fashion.
It is advantageous from a manufacturing viewpoint to make the collar, the extension, and the mounting base for the touch-up brush of one piece with the screw cap. Such a screw cap can be produced in a simple way of a synthetic resin. The protective cap can also be made of a transparent material so that, after having been placed on the screw cap, the consumer can perceive the rust-removing tool held in the screw cap.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, for purposes of illustration only, a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention.